Indiana Jones makes Russian communists see red
Harrison Ford is back as Indiana Jones in the new film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Russian Communist party members condemned the new Indiana Jones film yesterday as crude anti-Soviet propaganda that distorted history and called for it to be banned from Russian screens.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull stars Harrison Ford as an archeologist in 1957 competing with an evil KGB agent, played by Cate Blanchett, to find a skull endowed with mystic powers.
"What galls is how together with America we defeated Hitler, and how we sympathised when Bin Laden hit them. But they go ahead and scare kids with Communists. These people have no shame," said Viktor Perov, a Communist Party member in Russia's second city of St Petersburg.
The comments were made at a local Communist party meeting and posted on its internet site www.kplo.ru.
The film, the fourth in the hugely successful Indiana Jones series, went on release in Russian cinemas on Thursday. Russian media said it was being shown on 808 screens, the widest ever release for a Hollywood movie.
In past episodes Indiana Jones has escaped from Nazi soldiers, an Egyptian snake pit, a Bedouin swordsman and a child-enslaving Indian demigod.
"Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett (are) second-rate actors, serving as the running dogs of the CIA. We need to deprive these people of the right of entering the country," said another party member, Andrei Gindos.
Though the ranks of the once all-powerful Communist Party have dwindled since Soviet times, its members see themselves as the defenders of the achievements of the old Soviet Union.
Other communists said the generation born after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union were being fed revisionist, Hollywood history. They advocated banning the Indiana Jones outright to prevent "ideological sabotage".
"Our movie-goers are teenagers who are completely unaware of what happened in 1957," St Peterburg Communist Party chief Sergei Malinkovich said. They will go to the cinema and will be sure that in 1957 we made trouble for the United States and almost started a nuclear war. It's rubbish... In 1957 the communists did not run with crystal skulls throughout the US. Why should we agree to that sort of lie and let the West trick our youth?"
Vladimir Mukhin, another member of the local Communist Party, said in comments posted on the internet site that he would ask Russia's Culture Ministry to ban the film for its "anti-Soviet propaganda".
The Indiana Jones film is not the first Hollywood production to offend Russian sensibilities.
In 1998 the Russian Parliament demanded the government explain why the Hollywood film Armageddon - which depicted a dilapidated Russian space station that blows apart because of a leaky pipe - was allowed onto Russian cinema screens.
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Alex Ellul
May 25th 2008, 08:30
What's so wrong with ridiculing communism? One of the previous I.J. films had a good piece of NAZI bashing and no Nazi stood up against the film, and rightly so. So what's so wrong in bashing about the commies a bit? There's not much difference in the ideologies. Both killed millions of people. IJfilms never killed anyone, but just entertained us a bit. It seems that the fundamentalist commies see red, I mean anti-red under each hollywood bed.
Ramon Casha
May 25th 2008, 05:43
Hollywood has a history of rewriting history. Remember U-571 anyone? The difference here is that U-571 was presented as a historical drama. Indiana Jones never was.
If the Russians want to ensure that this part of their history is not misrepresented, they need to create their own films to tell their side of the story.
Charles DeMicoli
May 25th 2008, 02:04
Raymond and Chris: you've gotta be kidding, right? But sadly enough, I don't think you are. Do you actually believe everything you see in the movies? And as for the commies, that's Hollywood for you. Most of the time, Hollywood is bashing America, but most americans are mature enough to distinguish fact from fiction. And, Chris, what was Spielberg's agenda with the movie ET, pray tell us. By the way, this movie stinks.
Arthur Ellul
May 24th 2008, 20:26
For Russians, its their country and their pride.
Have we forgotten from our history class lessons, how much Russians rejoice of their beloved "Grande madre Russia"
I do not blame them, even if I never agreed with their policies and politics.
But they will always remain "figlii della grande madre russia" whatever the odds.
Raymond Sammut
May 24th 2008, 20:17
Harrison Ford will be an old stick by now. He wouldn't have enough balls left in him to punch a watermelon. I bet he had to drop the biggest fart of his life before he could swing it around like that.
James De Giorgio
May 24th 2008, 18:01
Oh come on, it's a fiction story for goodness' sake. It's like taking Dan Brown's story seriously! These communists should stop acting saintly, after all communism did great harm both to the soviet countries (I've been there) and to the people themselves. Just pop there and see for yourselves.
I like Indiana Jones. It's a lovely action-filled fiction story.
And don't tell me you won't buy the trio just because of what the communists said! Grow up and stop swallowing whatever the media reports.
Chris Ebejer
May 24th 2008, 13:21
Spielberg is always Spielberg,with his own hidden agenda!
Raymond Sammut
May 24th 2008, 11:31
I had been contemplating getting the trio on CD, but this picture is more than enough to make me change my mind. That is hardly tough what you are doing there, Indiana Jones. Go back home with your insolence, and find out who your friends are.
Please choose the reason of your report below: